Presenting a Technology Analysis
The Context and Your Delivery
ENGINEERING SERIES
The Cain Project in Engineering and Professional Communication
CTOs’ Qualifications
Good CTOs understand
• the company’s situation and industry
• how to apply technical knowledge
• how to interact with others efficiently
CTOs are identified for future jobs early on
• Learning presentation skills on the job is too late
• COMP 694 will insist on a high level of performance
Technology Officer’s Value
• Reduces uncertainties for firm
• Makes the audience feel smart about causes and consequences
• Answers questions “two levels down”
• Partly an outsider
• Reassures audience
A CTO’s Internal Audiences
• Need comprehension for good decisions
• Feel high uncertainty acutely
• Are sensitive about their own ignorance
• Have little time to learn
• May have less technical background
A CTO’s External Audiences
• Need comprehension for interpretation
• Feel entitled to clear, short, explanations
• May have less technical background
• Include press, investors, competitors, etc.
• Have little time to learn QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Key Communication Challenge
To remember what it was like not to know
Uniting Content and Delivery
• Organizing Content for Listeners
• Reinforcing with Delivery
• Reinforcing with Visual Cues
How Audience Listens
• Creates expectations about purpose
• Creates “mental hooks” or questions
• Chunks new information
• Interprets new information on basis of prior understanding
Organize to Fit Audience Processes
How Speaker Adapts
• Elicits expectations
• Suggests “mental hooks” or questions
• Chunks new information
• Builds on audience’s prior understanding
• Warns when old understanding differs from new technology’s features
Organize to Fit Audience Processes
Basic Organizational Structures
• Benefits
• Features
• Functions / Process
Organize to Fit Audience Processes
• Benefits
• Process of
– Feature1 + Function1
– Feature2 + Function2
Technology Presentations Criteria
• Accessible
• Comprehensible
• Usable
• Personally engaging
• Culturally appropriate
Meet Criteria Through Design
• Accessible
• Comprehensible
• Usable
• Interpersonally engaging
• Culturally appropriate
• Overall design
• Reinforcement
– Content
– Delivery
– Visuals
• Colors, words, and images that meet audience preferences
CRITERIA
How to Increase Accessibility
• Organize from known to unknown
– Visuals
– Metaphors and acronyms
– Stories
– Diagrams
• Use message headings or verbal cues
• Reinforce spoken words with visuals
How to Increase Comprehensibility
• Establish a context for audience
• Give “soundbite” or Main Claim early
• Explicitly link reasons or sub-claims to main claim at beginning of new section
• Define terms as you introduce them
• Use visuals to reinforce connections or give overviews
How to Increase Usability
• Select content related to audiences’ main questions
• Give “soundbite” or Main Claim early
• Organize according to listeners’ intended use - give product feature list, handouts
• Define terms as you introduce them
How to Engage Others
First impression - build connections
– Look at audience before you speak
– Smile, show goodwill
– Don’t read, know your first few sentences
– Look at individuals
– Have an open stance, arms casually positioned
How to Instill Confidence
• Don’t read
• Look at PPT on computer, not on wall
• Begin each sentence looking at the audience
• Show certainty by ending sentences with downward voice contour – Upward contour indicates a question, in English it
shows uncertainty
– Don’t speak a fact or claim as you would speak a question
Speak to Aid Comprehension
• Vary speed to separate levels of importance– Slow down for key points
– Speed up for details
• Tuck in definitions for unfamiliar terms
• Pause before new sections of your presentation or between points
• Repeat cues about talk organization
Emphasize with Voice Variation
• Emphasize key terms
• Vary speed and pitch
• Stress transitions, logical signals
– “On the other hand . . . “
– “Notice the difference . . .”
– “Nevertheless, . . .“
– “Two years ago . . . . But in the future . . .”
Convey Character with Voice
• Expresses intellectual enthusiasm
• Indicates seriousness, concern
• Reflects mastery of material, expertise
• Should “go with” dress, stance, and other aspects of appearance
Reinforcing Content with Visuals
Organize with Blank Space
• Blank Space: An empty area
• Directs viewer’s eyes
• “Pushes” or groups items and separates them from others
Identifygroups of items separated by BlankSpace in this Web Site
Design Rules
Choose Colors for Legibility
Well-lit room:
use light background/ dark text & visuals
Dimly-lit room: use dark background/ light text & visuals
Strong light reduces contrast on dark background
Design Rules
Avoid Vibrating Colors
Bright complementary colors
that are close to each other in intensity
“vibrate” or reduce legibility
Design Rules
Choose Easy-to-Read Fonts
Good for print
ESerif
(Letters have “tails”Shaft width varies)
Good for projecting
ESans Serif
(Uniform shaft width)
Design Rules
Font Aspects Affect Legibility
• Contrast between background and text
• Uniform shaft width
• Size of font
• Type treatment of font
S S32 pts Times Arial
Drop ShadowsDrop ShadowsReduce Legibility
Design Rules
Use Text Properly
• Use keywords instead of sentences
• Avoid “orphans” – This is an example of an
“orphan”
• Be consistent in your capitalization
• Use grammatical parallelism
Design Rules
Use Short Phrases
• Write complete sentences rarely; use with – Hypothesis
– Questions
– Quotations
• Generate clear, accurate phrases
• Use slide show as an outline, not as a word-for-word script
Design Rules
Parallelism Comprehension
• Makes text easy for audience to skim
• Creates logical coherence through grammatical, spatial equivalence
Design Rules
Use Parallelism Equivalence
Parallel:
• Use keywords
• Avoid wordiness
• Opt for bullets
Not Parallel:
• Use keywords
• Wordiness is bad
• You should opt
for bulletsEach verb expresses an action of equivalent importance.
List similar items in the same grammatical form.
VERBS
Design Rules
Displaying Visuals
• Insert needed visuals
• Use color
• Resize appropriately
• Draw attention
Design Rules
Use Legible Graphics
• Don’t stretch them to the point of graininess
• Don’t shrink them to be too small to read
Design Rules
Offer Familiar Images First
• Offer figure or image familiar to audience first
• Technical image next
• Electronic voting machine example of familiar image
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Offer Context Images for New Technologies
• User operating a nanopatterning device
• From http://www.molecularimprints.com/ viewed on May 12, 2008
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Show Overview Sequences NextSchematic of Imprint Lithography developed at U. Texas Austin
[ Note: The fused silica surface, coated with a release layer, is pressed into a thin layer of low viscosity, silicon-containing monomer. When illuminated by a UV lamp, the surface is polymerized into a solid layer. Upon separation of the fused silica template, the circuit pattern is left on the wafer surface. A residual layer of polymer between features is eliminated by an etch process, and a perfect replica of the pattern is ready to be used in semi-conductor processing.]
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Very Technical Images Last
• Build toward technical understanding
• Sequence: Photo / diagram/ schematic/ cross-sections/other technical images
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The S-FIL® imprint mask and substrate are in liquid contact due to the low viscosity imprint solution, which also behaves as a lubricant.
Combined image types in sequence diagram
Templates for step and plate imprint lithography http://www.molecularimprints.com/Technology/templates.html
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Animating: Tips
Use animation purposefully (and sparingly!)
– Animating should help audience comprehend your message
– Don’t animate solely for aesthetic purposes
Design RulesQuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.
Animate to show sequence
• Don’t stretch them to the point of graininess
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Animate to show sequence
• Don’t stretch them to the point of graininess
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Animate to show sequence
• Don’t stretch them to the point of graininess
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Animate to Direct Attention
Also see video animation at http://www.net-gmbh.com/
Design Rules
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
http://www.net-gmbh.com/e/fpc_9600.shtml
Choose Effects Judiciously
• Avoid slow moving or fancy effects:
– Swivel effect– Spiral effect
• Effects should have a point/support your message
• Don’t overuse special effects
– Crawl in effect
• Keep effects and transitions consistent
Design Rules
Test Presentation with Others
• Show draft PPTs
• Combine media to provide multiple ways of relating to your material
• Watch for difficulties, errors
• Practice talk
Ask for process feedback
Allow time for review and revision
More resources are available for you
• under “Engineering Communication” at Connexions at http://cnx.org
• at the Cain Project site at http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~cainproj
• in your course Communication Folder in OWLSPACE.
Lead through Excellence in Engineering Communication
Top Related